Bartlett's campaign wouldn't comment on the call, but the lobbyist who received it swore it was a recording.

Well, another lobbyist who received the same call emailed the Alley to say he "had no doubt whatsoever that it was a recording."

"For a moment I thought it odd and then just figured, well, there's a new phase in the evolution of fundraising calls," the lobbyist wrote. "Since few lobbyists actually answer their phones, most members doing their fundraising calls are talking mostly to machines. Why not just have one machine talk to another? It's actually brilliant!"